Documentary on Cyprus serial killer case available on Greece’s ERTFLIX

Nicosia, Cyprus. The independent documentary series Pleiades Victims of the Serial Killer, examining the crimes of Cyprus’ first serial killer and the investigation that exposed the case, is now available on Greece’s ERTFLIX platform.

The six-part production focuses on the seven victims and the institutional failures that allowed the crimes committed by Nikos Metaxas, known as Orestes, to continue.

Victims and investigation

Directed by Andreas Seitanis, with research by Paris Prokopiou and Michalis Terzis, the documentary is told through the experiences of victims and investigators.

It opens with testimony from one of the men who first spotted a body floating in the abandoned Mitsero mine in April 2019, a discovery that triggered the police investigation.

The series follows the recovery of victims from Red Lake and Memi Lake and traces the investigation that led detectives to Metaxas through his online activity.

Interviews and testimony

Across six episodes, the documentary includes interviews with police officers, divers, forensic experts, criminologists and relatives of the victims from the Philippines, Nepal and Romania.

It also features testimony from the man who first discovered the body in the flooded mine, as well as members of Metaxas’ family and social circle.

Filmmakers’ approach

The filmmakers said they sought “a more humane approach to the story” rather than centring the production on the killer.

Seitanis told the Cyprus Mail that the project “was always going to be a documentary about the victims and related important topics”, saying fictionalising the story would have been less powerful than allowing those directly affected to tell their own stories.